Tuesday, December 30, 2014

I'm the biggest procrastinator when it comes to sewing. I could have the fabric, thread, zipper, and pattern all ready to go 1 month in advance, but I will wait literally 2 DAYS before the event or article of clothing's big debut to start making it. Yet somehow, someway, it works out. & believe me, I am NO PRO - I haven't mastered starting a sewing project without my mother's push and help. She's my sewing mentor. I totally drive her up a wall when I do this, but she's a saint for putting up with me.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

For Christmas, my boyfriend bought me a pair of Michael Kors tortoise mirror lens sunglasses that were a tad bit too big. Since I'm a nut, I decided to drag him to the mall on a Saturday 2 DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS to get my matching MK tortoise watch and bracelet adjusted at the actual Michael Kors store.

I asked if they could bend the ends of my new sunnies to fit around my ears better and prevent them from falling off my face, but unfortunately they just sell sunglasses and do not have the right tools for making adjustments to them. Off to Sunglass Hut we went.

Friday, December 26, 2014

5 days ago, I had the pleasure of being my boyfriend's + 1 to his job's annual Christmas party. Now this is not your ordinary corporate holiday bash - this was a 4-days-3-nights all inclusive celebration in Cancun, Mexico.

Power Home Remodeling Group has been a reliable name in energy efficient windows, roofing, siding, and doors for over 22 years. Not only are there 15 different locations nationwide, but they're expanding as well.

With $2 million spent on a phenomenal, complimentary, overseas holiday party for Power HRG employees, friends, significant others, and families, I know what you're thinking: sign me up! But - being lucky enough to be a part of this company's trip has made me realize how tough, yet rewarding it is to be a member of Power's family. Because this company is trusted by over 125,000 homeowners nationwide, I see that they give back what their employees put in - and to me, that is gratifying.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

So you're leaving for vacation 5 days before Christmas. Between last minute Christmas shopping for the fam as well as resort attire for yourself, you're thinking about what color to get your nails done. Obvi. Something that'll compliment your tan, definitely not Christmas Red, nor a summery coral.... since it's December.

After 4 long, but not long enough, days in Mexico, I share with you my choice of holiday vacation nails. I decided to go with a "half moon" gel manicure. I chose a pearl white since white polish goes hand-in-hand with my tan, and a subtle gold glitter.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

I'm obsessed with rompers, jumpsuits, playsuits, whatever you prefer to call them. No matter the season, no matter the event. I don't care if taking them off is the extra 20 seconds that may cause you to pee yourself. They are one of the most fabulous articles of clothing a girl can own.

But - do you know how hard it is for a 4"10 chick at 90 lbs. to find a decent fitting romper?

My mother grew up sewing her own clothes because she had the same problem as me - tiny, inspired by fashion, and had repetitive fitting room failures. In middle school, I learned the basic stitch on our sewing machine.

I would steal my older sister's clothes, turn them inside out, and sew up the sides tailoring them to fit me (behind her back, sorry Mel). I was so secretive about it that I didn't even care if the shirt was white and the thread in the machine was black.

Last summer, my mom came across a bag of old clothes and showed me all the shit she made herself when she was my age - 2 of which I stole from her (and 1 I actually wore to my college graduation!).

From then on out I was inspired to try sewing my own unique pieces, and eventually selling tops off Etsy, coming soon in 2015 :).

Since August, I've made 3 outfits so far - you can check them out on my DIY page listed under "beginner's sewing projects by tweaking Simplicity's Sewing Patterns".

In honor of my departure to Mexico in 2 days with my boy, I completed my 4th outfit this week. Its a Nasty Gal inspired romper, and i'm so excited to tell you how I did it.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

So the relationship between you & your hair is on the verge of a painful break up. Your hair has a problem with every little thing you want to do, but you'll do anything to try and make it right.

Coming from the girl who colors her hair every three months, I'm not going to lecture you on why dying your hair is horrible for you and how you need to put an end to that right now. I get it - it's hard to be content with your natural hair color. It took bleach-to-my-ends in order for me to wrap up my collection for The 10 Commandments of Happy Hair:

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

For the longest time I've been loyally committed to my 2 pairs of Ray Ban aviators. Since then, I couldn't imagine myself in any other style. Although I always envied the trend, I never had the lady balls to try on cat-eye shades, or any round sunglasses for that matter.

If you've ever splurged on a pair of Ray Bans, then you know once you go RayB's you can never go back. I really loved the look of Clubmasters because are the offspring of aviators and round sunnies, but I wasn't trying to splurge on something I wasn't 100% about.

Monday, December 15, 2014

I've been hand-making cards for so long that I didn't even realize how expensive they actually can be. I totally encourage you to be completely creative by making your own cards in honor of the holiday season, and other seasons to come.

Last year I whipped up this beach-inspired Christmas card for my boyfriend LITERALLY 15 MINUTES before he walked in the door to exchange gifts.

If you don't own a pack of plain card stock printer paper, you better go get some. All I did was neatly fold it in half, layered some blue and brown scrapbook paper to resemble the ocean, cut out a trunk and 4 leaf looking pieces, and glued.

The Christmas lights and presents stickers are Jolee's Boutique stickers, who btw, have the cutest stickers in the game. Jolee's sticker line has so much variety that it's almost overwhelming, and they can be found at any craft store such as AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, or Michael's.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

This past Saturday I attended NYC's annual Santacon for the very first time - not to mention two years overdue! If you've ever attended a Santacon, you know the competition is real as to which Santa wore it best.

BUT, Santa will not settle for showing up with just a Santa hat on. You're either decked all out, or not at all. Every year I hear of tons of people dressed up as reindeer, elves, and even the Grinch. So obviously I had to top the rest.

This is the first semester as an alumni of my beautiful sorority, and it's like I was forced to graduate my creative mind from the dressing-up-for-mixers scene. Last year, I rocked my own DIY Christmas tree costume. If you haven't seen my tutorial yet, you can see it here!

Not only was this the first time I wasn't asked "what are you even dressed as?", but probably the cheapest costume I ever put together in such short notice.

Friday, December 12, 2014

It's almost been 24 hours since the start of Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular that I saw for the first time, and I still cannot get over how fabulous this experience was. I was raised as a gymnast, my mother grew up as a dancer, and I would always hear her talking about The Rockettes. She had never seen the Christmas Spectacular, so my father treated his three girls to the show last night.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I've always been a dark-haired kinda chick. Brown, burgundy, deep purple, dark red, jet black... Been there, done that. After graduating in May I decided to treat myself to an ombré. I wanted something subtle since this would be a drastic change for me, but I knew how unflattering a light brown would be once the color faded out 2 months from then.

I had my hair dresser do
some brown and blonde foil highlights around my face and starting halfway to my
ends. It was the perfect transition from dark to light, BUT, instead of turning
brassy 3 months later, my ombré turned barely-there.

Like every ombré newbie,
I wanted more, and I wanted lighter! Completely ignoring the fact that fall was
approaching, I went back to my lady and got some more foils (I waited 3 months
ladies! It is so horrible to bleach your hair more than once in a 2 month
span). This time, my ombré came out lighter- just what I wanted. The only
downside was that my ombré became much more solid as well, looking less like
highlights. I knew I would end up making another appointment in a month to go
back to the dark side due to brassiness and winter.

The same blonde
bombshell of a friend who taught me the ropes of coconut oil hair treatments recommended I use purple
shampoo, and start using it NOW for consistency before the brassiness begins.
Purple shampoo looks almost like a deep purple paint that provides pigment to
any orangey, dull yellow-looking tones. Think about the color wheel. Yellow is
opposite of purple, so the pigment that your hair absorbs will neutralize any
brassy color into the same bright dye job that you originally left the salon
with.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

...3 weeks later and my cubicle makeover is still in the making. Slowly, but definitely coming along. Since this little renovation involves a ton of Pinterest inspiration, printables, online ordering, photo process of elimination, glossy paper, and a significant amount of silver metallic spray paint, I've decided to share my favorite addition to my desk with you.I'm a little ridiculous feeling the need for a bouquet of silk flowers on my desk, but when you tell me to make myself at home I'll take my shoes off too.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Although I've heard nothing but great things about all the eyebrow kits and palettes that are one-by-one flooding all beauty stores, I can't seem to walk away from my day-to-day eyebrow products. These products have been my holy grail for the past 2 years. They're affordable and easy to find, so I've decided to share my secret.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

I know how it is to be a little lost when you don't know what to get someone for Christmas... we all do. As a crafty, yet broke, post-grad, I've always been all about the presentation. No matter how shitty you feel your gift is, make the outside count. You don't have to be excellent with wrapping paper to do this.

I'm the youngest of my family. I've come to realize that it's getting harder and harder to decide on a gift for everyone, so I'll go with the inexpensive small-gifts-but-a-lot-of-them. Sometimes quantity is more clutch than quality when you are stuck in a rut. To make up for this, I've decided that if my inexpensive gifts-but-a-lot-of-them are small enough, I will individually wrap them all and stuff them in plain Christmas stockings for each person.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

After the release of the Naked3 eye shadow palette last Christmas, we have been waiting for Urban Decay to stun us once again by releasing the Naked4. You guessed it, Urban Decay has done it again... this time, even more ingenious, and Limited Edition.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

In honor of throwback thurz and the first week of December, I am bringing back last year's DIY Christmas mixer ensemble. Sorority girl problems. While everyone else is dressed up as reindeer, snowmen, and covered in wrapping paper, bows, and Santa hats, you be the tree. This is the perfect idea to be the diva of Santacon or a basic ugly sweater party.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Today marks the beginning of Macy's Friends & Family! Now is your chance to splurge on 25%off high designer brands we love that are usually excluded from regular Macy's coupons, such as Michael Kors, Burberry, etc... Plus, who wouldn't take advantage of 25% off on top of all the amazing markdowns and deals that Macy's has to offer?

I'd LOVE to tell you all the great buys I just made by taking advantage of Friends & Family because the amount of savings are literally unbelievable... But then I'd be ruining some great surprises for some family and friends who might be reading this.

Monday, December 1, 2014

You've heard it before and I confirm it to be true - coconut oil works wonders.

I have naturally wavy, thin, brown hair.. and not a lot of it. I am extremely overprotective of my hair due to how fine my strands are. I shampoo only 2-3 times a week, trim every 2 months, blow dry instead of straighten, and learn to flaunt my air-dried/no product locks. I was pretty upset seeing how my hair reacted to a subtle ombre.

My blonde bombshell of a friend recommended I try a coconut oil treatment on my hair and leave it in for an hour, two hours, or even overnight. I browsed Pinterest and came across so many pins that called for a recipe to make the mix, the types of pins you pin but will actually never try. I took my girlfriend's advice, made my way to Whole Foods, and went with Nutiva's Virgin Coconut Oil. How hard could it be with one ingredient?

When picking up your coconut oil of choice, it is CRUCIAL to look for these key words:

Sunday, November 30, 2014

I have the most sensitive eyes of all time, and I got it from my mama. They are constantly watery. It's so bad that I'm almost [dramatically] legally blind and refuse to get contacts. I used to be mortified, yet prepared, to walk into a classroom late and somebody ask "are you good?" because my eyes are tearing trying to adjust to the light. If a fuzz or dust gets stuck in my eye, my face is actually worse than Kim K's crying face. AND, if something goes wrong while I'm doing my eye make up, you guessed it, I need to remove the entire work of art and start over. Unfortunately this is not a drill.

My mother is a huge fan of Lancôme and gets hooked on their deluxe sample bags. She let me have her full sized (4.2 oz) Lancôme Bi-Facial Eye Makeup Remover. I liked it, it worked well, and I totally ignored the fact that this was a $28 bottle. Turns out, you don't really know what you've got till its gone. I left it home and suffered half a semester at college without it. I tried 5 other brands including makeup remover pads and wipes that either didn't get the job done or stung so bad that I became more chinky-eyed than I already am. NWTS.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

It's not up for debate. My guacamole is the best guac in the game. You'll want to eat it by the spoonful, lick the bowl, and then never try any other guacamole ever again. I can't even ask for guacamole at Chipotle anymore, and you'll have to see why.

My 4 secrets for making the most mouth watering guacamole are using ripe, but NOT overripe avocados, a lot of sea salt and garlic powder, adding salsa, and saving at least one left over avocado pit.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Holiday shopping. Here's how it goes: 1 for you, 2 for me. I'm a sucker for funky looking things, even if its something I don't need right away or its not the right season. I'm buying it anyway because nothing gets stuck in your head worse than the things we put down at the store. Not even a Taylor Swift song.

I'm holiday shopping and came across this bad boy literally blinding me. I picked it up, and put it down. Picked it up, then put it back down again. Walked away, then came back and said "I need to have you". I don't care how ugly my futuristic clutch is, if it stands out, it's for me. I'm obsessed with the iridescent-holograph trend, especially to dress up that all-black wardrobe we all possess. I've said it once and I'll say it again: UK does it best.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

PSA: If we're going to bring back 90's fashion, it is evident that UGLY IS IN for fall, so F what your friends say. I've been searching for the perfect block-heel cut out booties and came across these fabulously ugly booties. They're versatile for all-year-round as you can rock them with black ankle socks or even knee-highs. Plus, how can you go wrong with the ultimate diva color combo: black & gold.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I've been slowly glamming out my cubicle at work (coming soon!) and ran to the dollar store on my lunch break. I swear I can walk into the dollar store without a sole purpose and out of no where I am hit with a wave of DIY ideas.

I decided to go with a blue, silver, and grey theme for my work space to go with my grey and white chevron border. I checked out the picture frames at the dollar store since I have absolutely no photos up, and grabbed a few silver ones.

I walked past the office supply section and found packaged blue glitter paper staring at me. One of the frames in my hand was a little bigger than your average 4 x 6 photo paper, and from there on out I knew exactly what I was going to do. I grabbed a 3 pack of dry erase markers and checked out.

When I got back to work, my project obviously could not wait. It took me under 5 minutes to make this fab Dry Erase Board, and the best part is that I spent $3 total.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Many of you can agree that sitting through an entire Sunday with your significant other during football season can feel like the longest day of your life... especially when you're in a long distance relationship with no where to run off to. Except the grocery store - where I escaped last Sunday. I completely winged a Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe which happened to turn out AMAZING. This Sunday, my boyfriend suggested we wing Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese. Needless to say, we killed it once again and I highly recommend you try it too!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Since my freshman year of college, I've had (and still have) the greatest group of 11 friends known to mankind. You're probably thinking, LOL "no, I do...", But I beg to differ.

Towards the end of our freshman year, 8 of us signed a lease for a gorgeous 3-story Victorian home that wouldn't be ours until junior year. Well worth the wait considering we planted ourselves in that bad boy until we graduated even after destroying it worse than a bunch of degenerate frat boys would.

Our living room, which in any house is "the spot", had this heinous baby blue and brown Victorian paisley wallpaper. The worst part is that even the molding was baby blue, so any decoration we thought about putting up on the walls would probably make a blind person dizzy.

We all had our own humongous stack of photos with all of us in it that went back all the way to freshman year. They were probably left over from decorating our rooms and realistically just collecting dust, so I had this bright idea of covering the top half of the entire kitchen wall with pictures of us.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Since graduating 6 months ago, I’m the typical Cortland-obsessed post grad in complete denial that it’s not still August and I won’t be packing up all my stuff to move back into my three-story Victorian home on Tompkins with my 7 best friends. Whether you’re a student at SUNY Cortland or alumni of, you know Cortland is the epitome of “from the outside looking in you can never understand it, but from the inside looking out, you can never explain it”.

You know the slot in your wallet that everyone has and is filled with shit you never use but you always keep on you anyway because, well, what if I need it? It’s like the junk drawer of your wallet. And every time you take a peek, you think, “WOW I forgot I had this…..", until you realize IT. IS. USELESS. Unless I decide to go back to Cortland and get my masters. But no thanks, I’m in enough student loan debt.

I laid out my expired possessions and remembered how I earned bragging rights for never once losing my student ID in all 4 years of college, which explains why I look like a completely different person in my photo. I remembered taking that picture at the second session summer orientation and the people I met there who share a special place in my heart still to this day.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I have the most uncooperative nails on earth… I’m not sure if it’s my nail beds or the base/top coat I use, but 75% of the time the ENTIRE layer of polish on some nails will peel off in one piece. By no means am I talking about just a chip, I won't even be picking at them, but I will actually paint my nails, shower, dry off, and two finger’s polishes will literally be M.I.A as if I forgot to paint them. Later found on the floor of the shower. So sketchy. Gel manicures are the only thing my nails won’t reject. I could go 3-4 weeks with the same gel mani as long as a good job was done and I’m able to beat the temptation of picking at them. Understandably, gels are definitely not something I can afford to do all the time so I've been taking a break.

I was curious about Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gel nail polish. It had to be too good to be true – with only 2 coats of your preferred color, 1 coat of the top coat, and no UV lights, you’re good to go. Lasts up to 14 days. Plus, the polish comes off just like normal nail polish, apparently no soak-off required. LOL HOW? I went to Harmon Discount to check it out and there were over 50 colors to choose from. After staring for 5 minutes I realized they were all sold out of the top coat - go figure. Went to Ulta, top coat sold out as well. Not meant to be maybe?

Thursday night I ran to Target to get a few last minute things before I left town for the weekend. It’s obviously impossible to go to Target without checking out the cosmetics department. There were Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gel top coats for days, but the color selection was wiped out. This had to mean it’s worth it. I picked out a neutral called Twiggy and tried it the second I got home (totally ignoring the fact that it was late, I still needed to pack and do a million other things).

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

You have now entered the most extraordinary, yet eclectic, place on the world wide web. I'm the Jane-of-all-Trades that will never leave you with anything short of fabulous. As a gifted beauty queen with a doctorate in DIY, I could plan a soiree like no other, and craft like it’s my 9-5. I could turn a piece of fabric into couture, master any makeup tutorial, and leave you feeling more confident about your life than Dr. Phil could. Creative people see the world from a completely different perspective and the decisions they make never fail to stand out from the rest. My goal is to share that with you.

A good friend of mine once told me, “you have 500 followers on Pinterest… how do you NOT have a blog?” I grew up with the nickname “Bee” in a suburban town of Central New Jersey and migrated myself to a historic town of Central New York where my college bedroom was nicknamed “The Boutique”. There, you could find good beats, impeccable lighting, and the holy grail of any product a diva would desire. I’m an imperfect perfectionist trying to make the best out of the adjustment to post-grad life. With that being said, welcome to The Beetique.

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